Don Identifies Problems Against Electricity Reform

The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Professor Howess Idarefagha Hart has identified lack of transparency and poor political will on the part of the Federal Government and agencies managing the power sector as some of the problems and challenges facing the sector in the country.

Professor Hart dropped this hint in a lecture titled, “A Frame-work For Efficient And Sustainable Power Delivery In Nigeria,” presented at this years’ Mechanical Engineering distinguished lecture, organized by the Nigeria Institute of Mechanical Engineers, a division of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) in Port Harcourt, recently.

According to him, Nigeria with a population of 160 million people generates less than 5,000MW compared with South Africa, with a population of about 50,000 million generating about 50,000MW.

He said some of the problems facing the power sector in Nigeria include lack of proper coordination, the scramble for the power sector, the problem of labour in the system and for the system, pointing out that the question of lack of political will is to follow the reform through and also stick to time line.

He also identified the capacity of key implementation agencies to do their work as required as one of the problems citing appropriate electricity tarrif, security challenges and the Nigerian factor, corruption also as problems.

The seasoned guest lecturer, doubted the sincerity on the part of government and the committee set up to handle the on-going privatization as also a problem, and noted that the three committees set up for the evaluation of the bids, “the process as presented appeared simple and straight forward, but so many things happens which were pointed out to the fact that if we think that we are to have efficient and sustainable power delivery, yes we have to think again.”

The professor expressed doubt over the reformation agenda by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to salvage Nigeria power sector, noting that, “The horse trading that followed revealed so many things, some strong men in the corridor of power tried to hijack privatization of Afam Generating Company, but after much tussle, the sale of the GENCO was suspended.”

Earlier, the National Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Engr. Ayo Fanimokun said the title of the lecture was appropriate and aimed to the energy crisis confronting the nation, adding that there is need for energy as a necessary input for all forms of economic, social and productive lives of the citizenry.